Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in ItalyMelik Ohanian: Days, I See what I Saw and what I will See

Melik Ohanian: Days, I See what I Saw and what I will See ITALYFLORENCE • Odeon Firenze • Ongoing

Melik Ohanian's film Days, I See what I Saw and what I will See was produced in 2011 for the Sharjah Biennial, but was never screened there because it was deemed in direct contrast with the interests of the sheikh who financed the exhibition. Ohanian shows the horrible conditions in which many Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants are forced to live, while practically confined to a work camp; a very different reality from the opulent image public opinion has of life in the Arab Emirates.

The movie camera, installed on a 100-meter-long network of tracks, filmed day and night the space in front of it. Every day, the artist dismantled and replaced the dolly, moving the shot 100 meters forward, thus obtaining two distinct videos, with respectively diurnal and nocturnal images. The editing produced two singular long takes which represent 1,100 meters of space the camera traveled through the streets of the camp, for a total duration of 42 minutes. The two versions are projected concurrently on two sides of the same screen, going beyond the traditional borders of a film projection.